Police seek Interpol's help to track down ATM hackers

The Royal Malaysian Police has sought Interpol assistance over the hackings of 17 local automated teller machines (ATM) in September.

Commercial Crime Investigation Department (Cybercrime and Multimedia) deputy director, SAC Mohd Kamarudin Md Din, said a 'purple notice' had been sent to Interpol in France to obtain among others, information, modus operandi, procedure and the hideouts of those responsible for the hackings.

"We seek Interpol cooperation as we believe the culprits have escaped abroad and are now lying low," he said when contacted by Bernama Monday.

The media reported that 17 ATMs at four banks here, Selangor, Malacca and Johor Baharu were hacked by members of what was believed to be a Latin American syndicate, incurring losses of over RM3 million.

The police said the syndicate had injected the malware virus 'ulssm.exe' by inserting a compact disc into the CD-ROM reader in the machine.

This was to dupe the bank computer system into enabling all the money in the ATMs to be taken out - using the key panels - by entering certain codes received via a telephone call from an accomplice.

However, in the hacking incidents, no account holder was reported to have lost money.